Josef Wolf

* 1939

  • “The escape... If you would plan to run away, you would say something like: 'Well, I will check this other department, I need to buy this toy.' So I went to the toy department to buy something for Petr. They came out through the exit, we were just pouring out, towards the car. So I took my satchel and I just run away. I was in Trelleborg, Sweden, there was a ship going to East Germany in three hours and in four hours there was a ship to West Germany, to Travemünde. So I thought: 'Okay, I have to go to Travemünde.'. So I went to buy a ticket. I was lucky that I still had some money, that I didn't spend all of it. So I thought that I had to hide somewhere as I couldn't stand our boys any longer. As I couldn't stand it, I knew that they would try to talk me out of it, and in the end, they could even break me. There were two houses in the harbor, the first one, the smaller one, for Eastern Germany, the second one for the West. So I went there and I hid my satchel into this luggage locker. And I wanted to just sit there. I was thinking that I succeeded. But that building was closed already, as I mannaged to get there late so they just threw me out, stating that they had to do the cleaning. So they threw me out and told me that they would open one hour before the ship would depart. I didn't have my satchel, I had nothing, just my passport. And I was back in the harbor. And I knew that after just a moment the boys would be coming back to the car, as that ship of theirs was the first to depart. And you could see very well everything that was going on around. So I got myself organized, I thought that I would hide somewhere and then I would rush into the town and in the town – Trelleborg is a very nice town, a former fishing town with right angled streets. West-East or South-North. And I should hide somewhere so they wouldn't find me, I kept telling myself. And I kept checking the time, as they would drive into that ship at a given time. So I – the first thing was that I thought I would hide somewhere. But there was no place I could hide. So I got this idea to go to a barber's shop. So I found this barber shop somewhere. But the boys were already – as I found later as we would discuss this issue - they were looking for me, trying to find out what could happen to me. They couldn't understand that I, Pepek... They thought that something had happened to me, that I got mugged or something. That they were supposed to find me and help me. And I didn't need their help but they didn't know. So I went to the barber's shop, telling myself that maybe they would leave without me. So as I was sitting there I could see in the mirror that the young guys were walking down the street just behind the shop window. And I thought, 'Jesus, they are probably looking for me.' And they were looking for me indeed, they were walking down the main avenues, looking into every shop. I was sitting there with this white cloth around my neck and they didn't think of taking a look inside. So they passed and I thought – 'They are looking for me.' And I had one more hour and a half to spend. There was a movie theatre on the other side of the street. So I thought that from the barber's shop I would go to a movie theatre. So I rushed inside and bought myself a ticket. To a back row, it was quite dark there and it was a non-stop performance. They were looking for me even in the cinema, as I found out later while we were talking. But based on what they knew about me, they thought that I wouldn't spend so much money for a ticket. As everything was just filthy expensive there. After the movie was over, they ushered us outside, through the entrance to the main street where they were still going around! Looking for me. Franta told them to check even houses and backyards in case I would be at some of these places.”

  • “I kept refusing to join the Party, which was something they kept offering me, as I was expected to do accept it. I tried to postpone the decision and I knew that the time was getting near when I would have to do that because of my family, to take care of my family, as many people did. But by doing so, they had to share responsibility for what the Party they joined was doing. Well they could get a better job, their children were allowed to study, but as a Party member you were also responsible for everything the regime was up to. That was how I felt it back then. So I tried to delay the process. We could easily walk this path, but I didn't want to. At that time, I just didn't know how to solve all that.”

  • “In Bulgaria we met some people at a local promenade wearing Dukla team shirts. So I found out that some time before that there were some Dukla team members who sold everything, from shirts to toothbrushes, as there was nothing there. But the question was what to get for that stuff so you could sell the thing to get money for spare parts which were priceless. A tubular tire would cost you maybe two or three hundred crowns. And such a thing would just blow up and you would end up with nothing. And without a light tubular tire you couldn't compete with anyone who were as good as you, as if he had better equipment, you could match him in performance but in the end the gear decided so he would pass me or just beat me.”

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I didn‘t want my son to be a soldier in a socialist country

Portrait from the mid 1950s, Brno
Portrait from the mid 1950s, Brno
zdroj: archiv pamětníka

Josef Wolf was born on January 11th, 1939 in Brno. He spent his childhood in Dobruška with his parents where he also witnessed the expulsion of German populace at the end of the war. After that he came back to Brno with his family. His father was a well-known tailor, but after the 1948 Communist takeover, he lost his business and had to work in uranium mines. Josef trained to be a tool machinist. In 1953 he began to do cycling. He succeeded and in 1960, he was a member of the Czechoslovak team at the Olympic Games in Rome. As he wanted to be a professional cyclist he joined the Dukla Army Club and became a professional soldier. But his service in an army of a socialist country didn‘t go well with his opposition to the ideas of Communism. He repeatedly refused to join the Communist party and he disputed with his commander. In 1966, shortly before Czechoslovak cycling team went back home from Sweden, he decided to emigrate. In a small port town of Trelleborg he managed to escape people from his group who were chasing him before the ferry departed. His wife and son were already one their way to visit an aunt in West Berlin, he went on to compete in Sweden. They met in a refugee camp in Germany. They were granted refugee status and settled in Sweden. Josef Wolf was a Swedish national cycling team member. After further studies, he taught engineering. Later, he had been working in an organization helping refugees.